Passing the Homeless Buck

HALF THE HOMELESS people in California live in Los Angeles, partly because of its warm climate and the fact that the city tolerates them, and even offers some measure of assistance. The number may be more than a quarter million, as many as half a million, or more. More, probably, than in New York City, long known as a homeless hang out. In L.A., the homeless inhabit every neighborhood, sleep on every park bench, and establish tent cities all over the city, in the suburbs and downtown. The quality of the air in the city has improved considerably over the past few decades, while the number of homeless people has skyrocketed. As is always the case in discerning the reasons for a ubiquitous social problem, the reasons are many. There is a sever shortage of affordable housing in California, and nationwide. The average rent in l.A. is around two thousand dollars a month; it is possible for a worker to work full time, or to have several jobs, and yet to be unable to afford to live indoors. Mental illness plays a role> When Ronald Reagan turned tens of thousands of mentally ill people out of asylums in the nineteen eighties, he unleashed a torrent of troubled people onto the streets from which American society has never recovered and to which it has never responded. Reagan's legacy is not one of compassion. The standard American response to homelessness is to ignore it, and to place exclusive blame on the homeless, using the false accusations that they are lazy, irresponsible, and have made poor decisions the result of which is their being without a home. Par of the problem is pervasive poverty south of the Rio Grande. a significant percentage of America's homeless are Hispanic, people who became refugees from violence and poverty in Latin American countries, fled to the United States seeking asylum, or in desperation sneaking into the country, only to be met with the usual pervasive American racism and lack of opportunity. The American have a moral responsibility to help the homeless which we the people are blatantly refusing to act on. The usual means is to deny that any responsibility exist, to blame the homeless for their plight in a society which offers nothing but opportunity, and to excoriate and ridicule those who articulate the problem as liars and troublemakers. In fact, opportunities for people to improve their economic circumstances in the united States fall far short of nearly every European country, and far short of most of the worlds' countries. Despite anecdotal evidence often used as proof to the contrary, the United States is not a society which offers opportunity to the economically disadvantaged. The United States is not a welcoming, inclusive, helpful culture, despite all the anecdotal evidence presented to the contrary, charity in America lags far behind actual need, less fortunate people tend to contribute much more than wealthy Americans, and Americans with means have a tendency, born out by irrefutable statistical facts, to hoard rather than share their wealth. The United States is not the wealthiest nation in the world, despite that fact that many Americans claim that it is. bu tit is certainly wealthy enough to eliminate poverty and homeless within its own borders, merely by giving everyone access to the benefits of both capitalism and socialism. But for this to happen, we Americans must first begin to take the problem seriously, and do more than pay occasional lip service to it.